Yingluck calls on NACC to treat her like other politicians

Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Friday called on the National Anti-Corruption Commission to treat her like other politicians, saying she was given too short a time to defend herself.

She has been charged with malfeasance for allegedly failing to stop corruption in the rice-pledging scheme.

Yingluck noted that she was charged by the full NACC and that, unlike in other cases, no sub-committee was formed to undertake a probe.

Yingluck also said that the NACC took only 21 days to charge her. Her defence team had asked for 45 days to respond to the charge but the NACC allowed just 15 days.

Yingluck added that during the 21 days of deliberation by the NACC, her team received only 49 pages of documents. A further 280 pages were later received but she was left with just three days to consider them before having to defend herself against the charge.

The NACC Thursday declined to extend the deadline for Yingluck to defend herself. The NACC asked her to defend herself to the NACC on Monday.

“Due to all of these points, I would like to ask the NACC whether it has treated me fairly like other political office holders or not,” Yingluc said.

Yingluck said she had yet to consult her lawyers as to whether she would meet the NACC in person to provide an explanation.